Power-operated wringer



April 24. 1928. 1,667,472

w. K. HOWE POWER OPERATED WRINGER Filed Oct. 21. 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 PIC-2L1. 1 1

1 7 FIGZ. 5

z T 2 B 42 22 1 R R 43 x x 33 I: ll v N EN R 35 ,sz 2 a7 3 45 ATTORNEY W. K. HOWE POWER OPERATED WRINGER Filed Oct. 21, 1922 2 Sheets- Sheet 2 April 24, 1928. 1,667,472

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\II B :2 w F v WATTORNEY Patented Apr. 24, 1928.

UNITED. STATES" PATENT OFFICE.

.WINTHROP K. Hows, or noonnsrnn, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- Mrav'rs, TO GENERAL RAILWAY SIGNAL COMPANY, or ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, A

CORPORATION OF NEW YORK POWER-OPERATED WRINGER.

' Application filed October 21, 1922. Serial 1T0. 506,074.

' This'invention relates 'to feeding devices for power driven wringers for washing mar chines. a r Y In feeding clothe-s between the rolls of a power driven wringer, it is generallyfound necessary to'get the end or a fold of a garment close enough to the rolls to be-gripped thereby, and in trying to accomplish this the operator sometimes'carelessly or accidently v I invention, reference should be had to Figs.

gets the fingers caught between these running rolls. The" danger associated with the feeding of clothes in this manner has been recognized and appreciated for some time, and various expedients have been proposed to lessen this danger. In most cases, however, it has been proposed'to remedy this danger by providing devices. such as guards and the like, which are provided in order to make it diflicult, if not impossible, for the operator to get his fingers betweenthe running rolls. Such devices, however, are likely to materially hinder the feeding of clothes into wringers, andhave been found objectionable for this reason. i.

The present invention contemplates the provision of means to aid the feeding by conveying the clothes to the rolls from a dis-' I tance, so that the operator need not get the.

fingers near the wringer'rolls. Further objects of the present invention consist in the provision of duplicate equipment on opposite sides of the rolls,'so driven that-when the wringer isoperate'd in the opposite directions, the conveying means on the feeding side will'operate toward the wrmger rolls and. the'conveying'means on thedischarge side will aid the moving -of clothes-away from the w'ringerinto a basket.

Otherobject's, purposes and characteristic features of the invention willappear as the description thereof progresses.

In describing the lnvention' 1n detail, ref- ,to-'release the'hook 13, thereby allowing the erencewill be made "to the accompanying drawings, in which w e Figure 1 shows a front elevation of'a wringer constructed in accordance with the present invention, apor'tionf-thereof being a sectional view taken on the line 1-1 in Figs. 2 and 3 respectively; I Y

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken onlthe line 2-2 of Fig. 1, looking in thedirectionof the arrows;

Fig. 3 is anend view of thedevice, a portion of the end cover being broken away to show the driving mechanism;

Fig. 4 is a partial view similar to that of Fig.2 of a modified form of the present invention; and

Fig. 5 is a section taken on the line 5-5, Fig. 4, as viewed in the direction of the arrows.

' In describing the first form of the present 1, 2 and 3, in which has been illustrated a well-known type of power driven wringer having the usual side frames F and F rolls T and B, and theusual tensioning screws 1,

bearing blocks 2, 'tensioning springs 3, gear housing 4, etc. This wringer also includes a safety release latch, comprising the hinged cross bar 5 having a hinge 6, permitting this 'ffrom tie end thereof and resting on the reenforcing members 10 of the cross member 11. I r

In order to attimes maintain the hinged bar 5 in operative relation, a latching device has been provided comprising a latch 7 member L pivotally supported on a support 12 screw-fastened to one of the portions of the'bar 5, and having" a hook 13 engaging the locking shoulder of the lock plate 14 fastened to theother portion of the bar 5. This latch member L is urged into the locking position'by a compression coil spring. 15. If for any reasons it is desired to release the tension exerted by the spring 3 as, for instance, if the operators fingers or garments get caught by the rolls, it is only necessary to press thehandle 16 of the latch member L bar 5 to collapse, so to speak, to remove the tension from the top roll T.

Tothe side frame F and extending along the insidethereof isa bearing plate 20, having outwardly extending flanges 21 fastened to the slde frame F by screws 22.'

ings formed in this hearing frame 20 and casing 23 which together constitute brackets mounted on the wringcr is a plurality of conveying rollers R, each comprising a shaft 27, one end. of which is squared as shown at 28 and extends into the casing 23, the working portion of the roller shaft 27 being provided with a roller body, covering or lining 33 of rubber, metal, wood or other suitable material. Each shaft 27 has provided thereon a sprocket wheel 29 fastened thereto by washers 30 and cotter pin 31. These rollers, if desired, may be ridged or corrugated longitudinally so as to afford a better gripping surface for conveying clothes thereover.

The lower wringer roll B extends a suit able distance from the wringer to facilitate the connection of a power driven shaft thereto as shown by the extension 85, and is provided with a sprocket wheel keyed or rigidly fastened thereto in any suitable manner and held in place by the cotter pin 37. A sprocket chain 38 operatively connects the several sprocket wheels 29 on each of the rollers R on. opposite sides of the wringer with the sprocket wheel 36 of the lower wringer roll B. The conveying rollers R 7 may be of any relative diameter as compared with the diameter of the wringer rolls T and B, but the diameter is preferably less than that of the wringer rolls. In order to givethe rollers It the same peripheral ve locity as that of the wringer rolls T and B, the ratio of number of teeth on the sprocket wheels 29 to that of the number of teeth on the sprocket wheel 36 is the same as the ratio of the diameter of the conveying rollers R to that of the wringer roll. B.

It should be noted that the mechanism casing 23 is provided with inwardly extending flanges 40 and 41, these flanges 40 and 41 preventing clothes from touching the shafts 27 to prevent s iotting of the clothes from lubricant, and the like, on shafts 27. The bearing plate 20 is likewise provided with flanges 4:2 and 4:3 for the same purpose. The conveying rollers R are preferably arranged so that the top surfaces define an, inclined plane extending between the wringer rolls T and B, and are preferably so closely arranged that they just clear each other, this specific arrangement, however, not being essential.

In the specific embodiment of the invention illustrated, the wringer is provided with the usual form of drain board, comprising a' board 45 having its ends provided with channel members 46 having an upstanding portion. These channel members 46 are each provided with a slot, as shown by the dotted line 47 (see Fig. 2), for slidably supporting this drain board on pins 48 passing through the end frames F and F In order to maintain this drain board in its one extreme and tilted position, the side frame F is provided with hooks 49 fastened by screws 50 and adapted to engage notch 51 In practice, the wringer will be,,operated' in one direction or the other, thereby causing the rollers on the one side of the wringcr to turn in a direction to move the clothes toward the wringer, whereas the rollers on the opposite sides thereof turn to move clothes away from the wringer. If the, opera tor desires to feed clothes into the wringer, all that is necessary is that the clothes be held in a manner so that the end thereof falls on the conveying rollers and will, by the rotation thereof, be carried into the wringer. It should be noted that, although there may be a slight tendency for a roller to carry the clothes with it, between it and the next roller, this is to a large extent prevented der that rollers of a predetern'iined diame-- ter may be more closely spaced than in the previous embodiment of this invention. In general, the wringer construction, bearing plate and mechanism casing. are the same as in the previous embodiment and therefore have been given like reference characters. J i

In this embodiment of the invention, the roller shafts 55 are provided with spaced sleeves 56 of suitable material, similar.to that of the lining of the rollers R. These spaced sleeves 56 are firmly fastened'to the roller shafts 55 in any suitable manner at points to place these sleeves of adjacent rollers in staggered relation, as more clearly shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings. The. shafts 55 are preferably spaced to just allow clearance between the sleeves 56 of one roller and the shaft 55 of anotherroller, and are to employ disks of metal, rubber or dislike,

which are placed on the shaft and are spaced by washers slightly thicker than the disks, the disks andwashers being forced against each other in any desired manner.

brackets fastened to the frame, an upper wringer roll, a lower wringer roll, means for forcing said rolls together, a plurality of conveyor rolls mounted in the brackctson one side of the lower wringer roll and having the plane of their top surfaces approximately tangential to the upper surface of the lower wringer roll, a sprocket within one of the brackets on the shaft of each of the conveyor rolls and the shaft of the lower wringer roll, and a chain in driving engagement with each of said sprockets for causing the conveyor rolls to turn in the same direction as the lower wringer roll.

2. A wringer comprising, a support frame, brackets fastened to the frame, an upper wringer roll, a lower wringer roll, means for forcing said rolls together, a plurality of conveyor rolls mounted in the bracketson one side of the lower wringer roll and having the plane of their top surfaces approximately tangential to the upper surface of the lower wringer roll, a sprocket within one of the brackets on the shaft of the lower wringer roll, a sprocket within the said one of the brackets on the shaft of each of the conveyor rolls, flanges on the brackets enclos-- ing the ends of the wringer roll and conveyor roll shafts and extending inwardly to the rolls proper, and a chain in driving engagement with each of said sprockets for causing I the conveyor rolls to turn in the same direction as the lower wringer, roll.

3. A wringer comprising, a support frame, a bracket on eachside of the frame, an upper wringer roll, a lower wringer roll, means for forcing said rolls together, a plurality of conveyor rolls on one side of the lower wringer roll and mounted in the brackets, a sprocket wheel on the shaft of the lower wringer roll, a sprocket-wheel on the shaft of each of the conveyor rolls, all of said sprocket wheels being. enclosed within one of said brackets, and a chain in driving engagement with each of the sprocket wheels .for turning the conveyor rolls in the same direction as the lower wringer roll.

4;. A wringer comprising, a support frame, a bracket at each side of the frame, a wringer roll carried by the support frame, conveyor rolls carried by the brackets, sprockets on the wringer roll and the conveyor rolls enclosed within one ofthe brackets, and a drive'chain housed by said one of the brackets, and opcratively interconnecting the sprockets.

5. A wringer comprising,-a support frame, a bracket at each side of the frame, a wringer roll carried by the frame, conveyor rolls carried by the brackets, sprockets on the wringer roll and the conveyor rolls enclosed within one of the brackets, and a drive chain housed by said one of the brackets and operatively interconnecting the sprockets, each bracket hav ng an inwardly pro ect1ng flange enclosing the ends of the wringer roll and conveyor roll shafts and terminating substantially flush with the ends of the wringer and conveyor rolls.

In testimony'whereof I hereby affix my signature.

WiiNTHRoP K. HOWE. 

